


Like, like like?

by distractionpie



Category: Social Network (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-05
Updated: 2012-07-05
Packaged: 2017-11-09 06:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/452353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractionpie/pseuds/distractionpie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Generally, Mark finds Dustin pretty easy to understand, but some things take you by suprise. A.K.A 4 and 1/2 pretty normal interactions between Mark and Dustin and one that's a little more unusual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like, like like?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexGoesRoar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexGoesRoar/gifts).



_Misplaced bracket, unclear input values, misplaced bracket, output value none-existent,_

 

“Mark!”

 

_division by zero, omission of bracket, recursion error,_

 

“Hey, Maaaaaark!”

 

_syntax error, shoddy threading,_

 

“Marky Mark Mark Mark Mark Marky-,”

 

“What?!”

 

“Morning Mark!”

 

Mark rolled his eyes. “Did you want something?”

 

“The pleasure of your company?” Dustin offered and Mark turned his gaze back to the mess of shoddily written code on his laptop. “Hey! Don’t be like that; you know you love me really!”

 

_poorly rounded algorithm that will cause buffer overflow, uninitialized variable, misplaced bracket,_

*****

_Report from Google on search targeting, MSN’s new system update,_

 

“Maaaaaaaaark…”

 

_Diaspora share redistribution,_

 

“Mark, I have bagels for us.”

 

_iPad upgrades announced,_

“Mark, I know you can _hear_ me; I will eat them without you.”

 

“There better not be anything weird on them Dustin.”

 

*****

_One hour, 15 minutes, 42 seconds of downtime; one hour, 15 minutes, 44 seconds of downtime; one hour, 15 minutes, 46 seconds of downtime; one hour, 15 minutes, 48 seconds of downtime; one hour, 15 minutes, 50 seconds of downtime; one hour, 15 minutes, 52 seconds of downtime; one hour, 15 minutes, 54 seconds of downtime; one hour, 15 minutes, 56 seconds of downtime; one hour, 15 minutes, 58 seconds of downtime; one hour_

“WE’RE BACK UP!”

 

_0ne hour, 15 minutes, 58 seconds of downtime._

“-isolated the error the gaming servers from-”

 

_0ne hour, 15 minutes, 58 seconds of downtime._

“-reconfigured the protocols to override tertiary functions-”

 

_0ne hour, 15 minutes, 58 seconds of downtime._

“-which should… uh, Mark?”

 

_0ne hour, 15 minutes, 58 seconds of downtime._

“Mark? Marky? When was the last time you went home man?”

 

_0ne hour, 15 minutes, 58 seconds of downtime._

“OKAY LADIES AND GENTS, BOSS-MAN AND I ARE OUT! NICE WORK TONIGHT, WE WILL GET BACK ON THIS IN THE MORNING, AFTERNOON, WHATEVER.”

_0ne hour, 15 minutes, 58 seconds of downtime._

“Right-oh! Let’s try and find you an actual bed.”

 

*****

_Privacy issues, failure to adequately enforce age restrictions, update summaries for investors, further ISP blockings of them in China, accusations of political censorship, new message, to:_ [ _dmoskovitz@facebook.com_ ](mailto:dmoskovitz@facebook.com) _, subject: wher-, no, open security feeds, camera 12, camera 19, camera 23, Dustin is at his desk, subject: what i--, no, folder: error reports – no new messages, subject: possible glitch in auto-reporting on errors, send._

*****

“Hey Mark.”

 

“Error reports?” he said, looking up.

 

“Oh, erm… yeah, can’t see anything wrong with it, are you sure there’s a problem?”  


Mark shrugged. “I didn’t get a notification for whatever went wrong this morning.”  


Dustin frowned. “Something went wrong this morning?”

 

“You worked right through until lunch, either something was wrong with Facebook or you’re having a quarter-life crisis.”

 

Dustin swatted at him. “Mark! Are you saying that I spent all afternoon looking at glitch reports and checking the notifications system for issues for nothing?”

 

Mark smirked. “Hey, a bit of routine monitoring is always a good idea to the keep the system safe. If you’ve got any work to finish you can just stay late.”  


“Awww… Mark, if you didn’t want to be lonely you should have just said,” Dustin teased.

 

“Actually,” Mark continued, “Some of the HR people have been e-mailing me about an ongoing bug problem, I’ll tell them to take it up with you shall I?”  


“You are an evil, evil man.”

 

*

 

“I like you.”

 

Mark raised his eyebrows. “And?”

 

Dustin shrugged. “I just figured you ought to know, y’know. Like, I ought to tell you, so I could be sure it wouldn’t get to be a problem. Not that I… I mean obviously, you’re okay with Chris and all, I’m not suggesting that… but Chris doesn’t like you so…”

 

“Chris likes me,” Mark replied, baffled. Even if Mark had been utterly lacking in social skills as some people presumed, Chris had made himself explicitly clear. “He made a point of it when he got it into his head that I was going to take him leaving to work for Obama as a personal slight.”

 

“Well you did,” Dustin pointed out. Mark glared at him – just because he’d suddenly realised he had a whole lot of updates to code right after Chris broke the news didn’t mean he’d been upset.

 

“So what is it?”

 

Dustin looked blankly at him so Mark deigned to elaborate. “What is it you think is going to piss me off enough that you feel the need to reaffirm your friendship with me? If it’s the server upgrades thing I already knew and…”

 

“No. Mark, no. I didn’t mean I like you as in ‘I like you, please remember that fact and how special it makes me and therefore don’t get mad at me over what I’m about to say’. Although, y’know what – feel free to keep that in mind. I mean I like you as in I like… I like like you.”

 

“You like like like me? Dustin, despite what your actions might sometimes suggest, you aren’t actually a twelve year old girl.”

 

Dustin flushed slightly, his gaze flicking to the door. “Whatever Mark. Excuse me for thinking nice easy words might help you understand, would you like me to get a thesaurus and then start over?”

 

Mark rolled his eyes. “Despite what Chris says, I do know the words for emotion related things. I just chose not to lapse into purple prose every time I have as much as a hint of a feeling.”

 

“What, and I did? Because I can if you want too but…”

 

“No.”

 

Dustin laughed, although in Mark’s opinion it sounded a bit weird. “Anyway, yeah, so now I’ve told you, because I mean you’re my friend right, and friends tell each other that sort of thing – I think it’s in the bro code somewhere. But… that’s cool. I should probably get back to work now, yeah boss-man? You want to copy me in on the thing with the servers?

 

“Sure,” Mark agreed, with the vague feeling that this conversation had rather gotten away from his control.

 

“Cool,” Dustin said, and then promptly darted out of the office and back to his desk. Dustin had been offered his own office, had in fact briefly been given his own office, but when it became clear that he’d been spending more time wandering out of it to lean over the shoulder’s of his subordinates and chat with them about their projects than he had in it had been agreed that he’d just get a larger desk area in the main office – it meant he could be productive and social at the same time. Dustin had always seemed better than most programmers Mark knew at being able to work without actually wiring in.

 

_Zynga apps links misdirecting, update lag in southern Europe, proposed changes to sign-in screen, code to target newsfeed post orders runs too slowly,_

 

Wait.

 

‘I like like you.’

 

 _Like_ like?

 

Like _like_?

 

Mark, working entirely on instinct minimised his e-mails and grabbed for his phone, jabbing at Chris’s number in his contacts.

 

Chris picked up on the third ring with a baffled, “Mark?” followed by, “Shouldn’t you be working? It’s the middle of the day. Has something happened?” And then, his voice rising with concern, “Are you okay?”

 

“What? No, I’m fine,” Mark reassured, because his general lack of sensitivity still allowed him the awareness to know that not clearing that up first would be likely to give Chris an aneurysm. Chris sometimes forgot that he was Mark’s friend and ex-head-of-PR but not his mother.

 

There was a long pause. “Mark…”

 

“What?”

 

“Mark, it’s the middle of the day. It’s not that I’m not pleased to hear from you, but why are you calling if something isn’t wrong?”

 

Chris was far too perceptive for anybody’s good sometimes. Mark decided he had liked Chris better when he’d been using his talents for Facebook rather than being able to tell that something was off about Mark from halfway across the country.

 

“What does it mean when somebody says they like like you?” Mark blurted out and then, frustrated, added, “I mean it’s not like we’re in middle school anymore. These sorts of things aren’t the same anymore.”

 

There was a long pause. “Mark… did somebody say that to you?” Chris guessed, and then, apparently assuming the answer to be yes, continued, “I mean clearly it depends who the person was. If you’ve been talking to some befuddled Hollywood starlet who uses the word like as an interjection almost as frequently as breathing then it probably doesn’t mean anything. And if somebody’s six-year-old niece has said it to you then polite avoidance is probably best.” Chris paused, but Mark kept quiet, suspecting that Chris wasn’t finished, just thinking. “I’ve got to be honest with you Mark, I’m struggling to think of how you got into this situation or who you would be mixing with that would say something like that to you.”

 

“Dustin.”

 

Chris made a sound of understanding. “Oh, hmmmm, I suppose Dustin could have put somebody up to it as a prank but honestly I don’t think-,”

 

“Dustin said it. He came into my office and told me he liked me, and when I pointed out that lots of people liked me and that I didn’t actually require regular emotional reassurance nor would reminding me of our friendship get him out of trouble he said no, he like liked me, and then he sidetracked the conversation and left.”

 

There was a long pause.

 

“Chris?”

 

“Dustin…” Chris said, although he sounded more like he was back at Harvard and trying to talk Dustin out of some ridiculous idea than like he was actually talking to Mark.

 

“Yes, Dustin,” Mark pressed,  “Who is neither a Hollywood starlet or somebody’s six year old niece, so therefore some more relevant advice would be nice.”

 

Chris sighed. “Mark… maybe it would make more sense to ask _Dustin_ what Dustin meant by it.”

 

Mark snorted. “Dustin not making sense is why I’m calling you. Why would he make any more sense if I asked him a second time?”

 

“Oh for… Mark. I know Dustin is prone to random outbursts of affection sometimes, but most of the more dramatic ones occur when he’s drunk so unless Facebook’s alcohol policy has changed dramatically since I’ve left, which it hasn’t, he’s told you that for a reason and while I think I could take a good guess at that reason you might be better off hearing it from Dustin.”

 

Mark sighed and Chris made an exasperated sound down the phone. “Oh for goodness sake Mark, this might not be middle school but you’re certainly acting like it. He said that he liked you and not in the sense of a casual friendly reminder – what do you _think_ he meant?”

 

Then the call cut to dial tone.

 

Clearly Chris was going to be no help.

 

Mark put his phone back down on his desk and reopened his e-mails.

 

_Notification e-mails being sent multiple times, tagging notifications not arriving, ‘I like you’, request for an interview RE: Facebook and the Arab Spring, ‘what do you think it means’, privacy policy revisions, ‘I like like you,’ new search filtering, ‘ask Dustin’,_

If this were middle school, the last place Mark had heard the words ‘like like’ used in complete sincerity, Mark wouldn’t be distracted, nor would he be struggling with their meaning. But he’s fairly sure that they’d passed the point of random confessions of liking at some point before they’d both started Harvard and that if Dustin were affectionate or attracted or interested or whatever other connotation of the middle school pseudo-romantic meaning of like then surely he would have done something about it.

 

There’s a part of him that’s tempted to dismiss it as Dustin joking, but it’s not in line with Dustin’s sense of humour, which generally tends towards pun and bad nerd jokes, with occasional bursts of slapstick, than messing with people’s heads. Generally speaking, Dustin is one of the most straightforward people Mark knows.

 

That’s what makes Mark give in. Chris told him to just ask. If it were anybody other than Dustin, Chris would probably have warned him not to ask, for fear of causing offense or looking incompetent or some other absurd thing that meant he couldn’t just get to the point with people. But Chris didn’t, because Dustin isn’t like that.

 

Mark attracts stares as he makes his way to Dustin’s desk.

 

“I think with this server thing…” Dustin began, when Mark’s shadow fell over his work.

 

“What did you mean?”

 

Dustin spins his chair around, his knees bumping against Mark’s, and says, “Uh… what?”, a little wide eyed, not quite closing his mouth the whole way at the end of the t.

 

“In my office,” Mark continues, “What did you mean when you said-”

 

“Oh look at the time!” Dustin interrupted, jumping from his chair and seizing Mark’s arm. “I could go for some food, come on Mark, let’s go find something.”

 

Judging by the facial expressions of the onlookers, which ranged from amusement to something close to terror with a few smatterings of pity, nobody was falling for Dustin’s pantomime excuses to take this conversation away from their audience. Nobody commented though, as Mark allowed Dustin to drag him towards the exit, although eyes followed them until the doors swung shut behind them.

 

Dustin didn’t stop until they were in the rarely used conference room, presumably selected  for its thick walls and  low likelihood of interruption. Although Dustin still hesitated momentarily the door, as if considering locking it, before he turned back to Mark with a somewhat uncomfortable laugh. “Right, okay, sorry about that. Can’t have the boss slacking off in front of the minions don’t you know. You can carry on now.”

 

“In my office, what where we talking about?”

 

Dustin looked slightly startled, as if maybe for some reason he hadn’t expected Mark to pick up the conversation precisely where he had been interrupted, despite the clear invitation to do so.

 

“Is this an abducted by aliens thing? Mark, it was less than fifteen minutes ago… if you’re having short term memory problems you should probably see a doctor about that.”

 

“I know what you said,” Mark corrected, “Now explain what you meant.”

 

Dustin’s face twisted into something that on somebody else might have been a scowl, but on Dustin’s face looked more confused and frustrated than anything else. “Seriously Mark? I… jeez, I figured it was pretty obvious what I meant.”

 

“Well clearly not, so why don’t you explain what you were going for?”

 

“I wasn’t _going for_ anything,” Dustin protested, “I wasn’t…. I was just telling you. Because we’re friends and because otherwise there’d be the risk of you figuring it out on your own and it making everything _awkward_ when it doesn’t need to be.”

 

“Telling me _what_ exactly?” Mark snapped, because Dustin kept explaining when all Mark wanted to know was _what_ he was explaining.

 

“That I like you! In a non-strictly platonic sometimes I spent inappropriate amounts of time staring at you when you aren’t looking and if it weren’t for the fact that nobody uses paper nowadays I’d probably have a notebook full of hearts with your name in them in glittery pink gel pen way.”

 

There was a long pause and Mark tried and failed to process this information and the look on Dustin’s face slipped from exasperation into concern. “Mark… Mark… this, this doesn’t have to be a problem okay? I, I’m not expecting anything, you get that. This isn’t… some big dramatic chick flick moment I’m just _telling_ you I like you, because that way I can also tell you that it doesn’t change anything, that you can just carry on like normal, whereas if you found out on your own you might have gotten weird with me and… you’re my friend first, yeah?”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because being your friend matters!” Dustin replied, indignantly. “I’m not some creeper that’s only hanging out with you to get into your pants and then will bitch about being friend zoned. I-”

 

“No, why aren’t you expecting anything?”

 

Dustin looked at him blankly. “Mark…?”

 

“Normally when people are romantically or sexually interested in somebody, and that’s what you mean by ‘like’, they ask them out on a date. Why did you just _tell_ me?”

 

Dustin shrugged. “What’s to ask? Despite what our yearly visiting motivational speaker would like us to believe, there is such a thing as a stupid question. Of course you’re not going to go on a date with me.”

 

“Well obviously,” Mark conceded and Dustin’s whole face twitched, “But most people would ask anyway, or find another way of suggesting some sort of involvement.”

 

“Not actually a glutton for punishment Mark,” Dustin said, with an astoundingly fake laugh. “Anyway, I’ve seen what you do to people too stupid to take a hint, and while it’s usually pretty hilarious to watch I have no wish to be on the receiving end.”

 

“So you like me, but not enough to risk the potential embarrassment of me turning down a proposition,” Mark clarified and Dustin pulled a face.

 

“Way to make me sound like a chicken. No, I like you but I’m not going to ask you a question I already know the answer to. Do you know the last time I went on a date, Mark?”

 

Mark shook his head. “Why would I know that? I would imagine by your statement that it’s been an extended period of time, so longer than a month?”  


“I don’t know,” Dustin answered and Mark scowled.

 

“Why would you test my knowledge of something _you_ don’t know? That’s absurd.”

 

“No Mark. That’s the point. I can’t _remember_ the last time I went on a date. That’s how long it’s been.”

 

Mark rolled his eyes. “So you keep turning people down, what does that have to do with anything.”

 

“No Mark, I don’t keep turning people down. I just don’t get dates.”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mark replied, “You’re the youngest billionaire on the planet. At the very least there has to be people who want to date you for the money.”

 

Dustin gaped at him. “Mark. What? Why would I…” Dustin shook his head. “Mark, I am pasty and ginger and Jewish and a nerd and I spend at least twelve hours a day at Facebook and most of the others texting Chris or watching low budget sci-fi or hanging out with you. Even if I were desperate enough to go for gold diggers no amount of money is going to make people want to be in a relationship with me. Why on earth would I want face the inevitable experience of crashing and burning that would follow asking you out?”

 

Mark cocked his head. “I didn’t know you had self esteem issues.”

 

Dustin turned around and slammed his forehead against the door. “I _don’t_. I don’t, I don’t care about any of those things because I like sci-fi and I like coding and I like Facebook and I like the friends I have. I’m just _saying_. You said yourself, you wouldn’t go on a date with me. That’s fine. Just… can we stop now? Because this is getting embarrassing.”

 

Mark pulled a face. “I said I obviously wouldn’t go on a _date_ with you. I don’t go on dates. But…”

 

Dustin looked over and frowned at him. “Mark. Mark you don’t have to. That what why I was telling you - remember? I promise I don’t have low self esteem. I’m not going to go and sit in a corner and cry unless you force yourself to act interested in me.”

 

“Of course not,” Mark agreed, waving a dismissive hand. “I don’t do anything I don’t want to. You’re my friend and you’re good at coding and you spend a lot of time at Facebook and I’m pasty and Jewish and nerdy and there’s nothing wrong with being ginger, you need to spend less time watching South Park.”

 

Dustin nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

 

“You aren’t annoying,” Mark added, and Dustin nodded once again, clearly not seeing the pieces fall into place as clearly as Mark was.

 

Dustin was intelligent and hard working and very rarely grated on Mark’s nerves; he genuinely understood the importance of Facebook and already had the approval of Mark’s very limited social circle. And while he wasn’t exactly conventionally attractive there was certainly something to be said for a bright, easy smile and a genuine enthusiasm for the things that interested Mark.

 

“Give me your phone,” Mark demanded.

 

Dustin handed it over with a nervous smile.

 

Mark hesitated for a moment and then tapped out 0-0-0-0, shook his head at the error message and tried 1-2-3-4, because Dustin knew too much about hacking to really see the point in four figure passwords and so didn’t tend to bother with complex passwords, as evidenced by the menu screen that opened in front of Mark.

 

_Internet. Facebook. Sign out Dustin Moskovitz. Sign in[mzuckerberg@facebook.com](mailto:mzuckerberg@facebook.com). Why was his password saved in Dustin’s phone? Irrelevant. Profile. Update info. Basic info: Edit. Relationship status: In a relationship. With: Dustin Moskovitz. Save. Sign out. Sign in [dmoskovitz@facebook.com](mailto:dmoskovitz@facebook.com). 1 unread notification. Relationship request from Mark Zuckerberg: Accept?_

Mark handed the phone back to Dustin who stared at it for a moment and then looked up at him. “Are you…” he trailed off.

 

Mark shrugged. “I told you. I don’t go on dates. But there’s a logical progression of events upon the realisation of attraction and-“

 

“Mark, I’m going to kiss you now, is that okay?”

 

Mark rolled his eyes, “You like me and I’ve considered your suitability and asked you to be in a relationship, the traditional series of behave-mmmph!”

 

In the moments before surrendering to temporary distraction Mark saw Dustin jab the accept key with his thumb.

**Author's Note:**

> Get well soon fic for AlexGoesRoar. The word 'like' lost all meaning to me long before the 46th and final usage of it in this fic. I really wanted to work something in here about Dustin being the one to inspire the whole 'relationship status thing' but despite writing about three different versions I couldn't make it fit.


End file.
